Now that almost all students have to study at home, it appears that they are perfectly capable of doing so, notes Noor van Driel. So now it’s a question of keeping it up.
Noor van Driel. (Foto: Sam Rentmeester)
If you had said in my old student house that you were going to study at home, my housemates’ scepticism would have shone through in their winks and answers that implied that they thought you had other ideas in mind. I won’t go into detail of what they thought, but it was indeed very hard to concentrate at home. And that’s why there were always people queuing up at the Library for the privilege of getting a table and chair even though most of them had these things at home too.
The constant shortage of places to study is not an issue anymore, now that we have to study at home. And it seems that we’re perfectly able to do so too. After all, how much time can you spend watering the plants, going through the news apps and playing Tetris while no one is checking on what you’re up to. There is a limit to the creative lunches that you can prepare and seeing if anyone is around for an online house party. Or getting some fresh air (as recommended by the Minister). Or counting the ducklings swimming in the canal. Checking death rates are a popular pastime too apparently. Anyway, my limit was pretty elastic but luckily most people don’t suffer from such appalling discipline.
‘Stress among students – a persistent problem swept from the table in one go.’
Friends have done their first remote exams and they went surprisingly well. Some people even said they seemed a bit easier, but that may just be perception because it’s harder to be stressed out in your slippers and with a Nespresso in your hand far from the sweaty fear of your fellow students. Stress among students – a persistent problem swept from the table in one go.
But we are only a third (at the most) of the way through the remote education period and I find that a depressing thought. The curiosity phase has passed and it’s now time for the long haul, just when spring is in the air and we are all raring to go. There is much discussion in the newspapers and on television about the end of the precautionary measures. Just three weeks ago, we were people jumping to do something for others and now, three weeks on, we are people who just want to do something. Anything.
For staff with children, I hope that the schools will open soon. In my case, I have a housemate that wants to be entertained every half hour with games (she’s 26) so I can sympathise with parents.
My only wish, selfishly enough, is that I can sit on a café terrace this summer. And that I can hug my mother, who is a model citizen working as a doctor at the GGD. After a month of no exits, I can conclude that hell is what you make of it.
Noor van Driel is graduating at systems & control (faculty 3mE). She likes to participate in pub quizzes, but she has never won.
Noor van Driel / Columnist
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